# Urgent: Cooling Down a Humidor ASAP



## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

Hello All,

As some of you know my humidor is way too hot.

I am in a dorm with central heating/air and have no control. It's currently somewhere in the 75/76 range which is a concern to me. I need to get the temperature down quickly. I have plenty of beads so I'm not worried about anything that would affect the RH levels.

Well Oust fans could be a solution, they won't fix it in the next 72 hours. I do have a small fan and access to an ice machine (and freezer/fridge in my room) so I'm oen to any creative suggestions.

I've been placing bottle caps with frozen water, but those aren't holding up. About to go to cups of some distilled ice.

Thanks.


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## xmacro (Mar 24, 2010)

Could just stick it in the fridge. Or go out, buy a cooler, fill it with ice, cover the ice with a plastic sheet, and set the humidor inside the cooler. Gonna have to be careful about water when the ice begins to melt, so just open the bottom spigot and let the water drain out into a sink or something.


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

xmacro said:


> Could just stick it in the fridge. Or go out, buy a cooler, fill it with ice, cover the ice with a plastic sheet, and set the humidor inside the cooler. Gonna have to be careful about water when the ice begins to melt, so just open the bottom spigot and let the water drain out into a sink or something.


The cooler idea might work. This thing is huge. I could prop it up in the cooler I imagine. I just have no where for the water to drain.

The fridge won't work. I could stick the trays in the fridge I suppose?


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## Magnate (Nov 27, 2009)

Get some of those gel cold packs you can get from the drug store. Freeze them, then set them on top of the humidor...

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/292863/make_your_own_gel_cold_packs.html


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## socapots (Feb 22, 2010)

posted in your other topic when i should have done it here. haha..
sorry


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## quantim0 (Jan 29, 2010)

Mine is up above 70 for its whole life. I don't keep the house at 70. I've never had a problem. In the future I will be getting a wine cooler to keep things cool, but for the past year it's been no big deal.


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## thebayratt (Jun 4, 2009)

I tried putting ice in a tuna can to lower my temp once. It worked........... _but _it also dropped my RH too.... So if you decide to go with the ice experiment, watch your RH.

I eventually got a Vino... but then again, I'm not in college anymore. I know how the college budget can be.


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## xmacro (Mar 24, 2010)

For what it's worth, my temp in my humi is between 70 and 73, which is the same temp my room fluctuates between - never had a problem, and I live in FL


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

I'd be comfortable if it was closer to 70, but 75 leaves me worried, particularly because that seems to be the low.

I'm interested about putting the trays in the fridge (without any sticks) what will this do to the wood?

I put some ice in my smaller humidor, it def. dropped the RH (odd), but it cooled from 76 to 69.

Like I said, I can monitor and control the RH much better then the temperature, mainly due to beads.


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## Claes (Dec 19, 2008)

thebayratt said:


> I tried putting ice in a tuna can to lower my temp once. It worked........... _but _it also dropped my RH too.... So if you decide to go with the ice experiment, watch your RH.
> 
> I eventually got a Vino... but then again, I'm not in college anymore. I know how the college budget can be.


I was just thinking, "Can't you buy a vinodor that will keep it cool?"

I can apreciate being low on funds but cigars are an expensive hobby. It's kind of like when someone buys a hummer and them complains about the gas. If you can't pay for the gas you can't afford the car. Not trying to flame here just saying it seems like something worth while to save up for or work a couple extra shifts to get.

Good luck though I love the ingenuity with the frozen water in caps and such!


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

Claes said:


> I was just thinking, "Can't you buy a vinodor that will keep it cool?"
> 
> I can apreciate being low on funds but cigars are an expensive hobby. It's kind of like when someone buys a hummer and them complains about the gas. If you can't pay for the gas you can't afford the car. Not trying to flame here just saying it seems like something worth while to save up for or work a couple extra shifts to get.
> 
> Good luck though I love the ingenuity with the frozen water in caps and such!


I could buy another something or other, but, I don't think it's the ideal solution:
-I just dropped a significant amount of money a fairly nice looking humidor
-I'm in college, space is limited and this thing would have to be transported every eight months
-Not to sound like a arrogrant rich (fill in the blank), but it's honestly space and time that are larger commodities then money. I could drop $300 on a vinotemp and another $50 on trays (or whatever the total will cost), but by the time I get those things and it set up and what not, I'll be putting the vinotemp back in storage
-The A/C should go on, it was on when I got here and it wasn't turned off until the temperature was consistently in the mids-70s, why they haven't turned it on is beyond me
-While I might only be here for four more weeks, but I suspect they will turn the A/C on at some point, this was more like: try to solve it in a couple of hours.
-For most the eight months (or however long I'm here) my humidors rest nicely at 69-70.


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## Flux (Oct 19, 2009)

Freeze every cigar you have. Then you've killed off any beetles or larvae. Then freeze any new cigars you get. I don't think that temp will affect your sticks but it is prime beetle hatching temp. Killing them dead right away will let you to run that higher temp.

I'm going through the same thing right now. I just froze my entire stash a week or so ago and I'm gonna do the same with any new stuff I buy for quite a while. Better safe than sorry. 

Best of luck to you.


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## jaydub13 (Jan 13, 2010)

Flux said:


> Freeze every cigar you have. Then you've killed off any beetles or larvae. Then freeze any new cigars you get. I don't think that temp will affect your sticks but it is prime beetle hatching temp. Killing them dead right away will let you to run that higher temp.
> 
> I'm going through the same thing right now. I just froze my entire stash a week or so ago and I'm gonna do the same with any new stuff I buy for quite a while. Better safe than sorry.
> 
> Best of luck to you.


Great advice.... Gonna have to +1 this one!


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## KetherInMalkuth (Dec 17, 2009)

If I were you, I would follow the freezing advice for initial protection.
Then get at least 2 of the gel packs mentioned previously (switch them out each day) and an Oust fan to circulate the air so you don't have one central cold spot, if freezing the gel packs makes your humi too cold, then I'd just refrigerate them instead of freezing. I probably wouldn't use ice, as that will introduce more water to your environment and make it harder to control RH. I'm not sure how big your humi is, so this may take up more space than you can spare, personally I use a coolerdor for most of my smokes and for whatever reason, even when the house is at 74-75 (the wife won't let me keep it at 70), the cooler is still right in the 70-71 degree range, so that may be a consideration as well.


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

So the updates:
-The temperature is dropping back into the 70s outside, which is good
-The A/C is on, but not really that much, it'll be a while for the room to cool down
-I have put a couple cigars at a time in the fridge (in a ziploack with a Boveda)
-That led to the following revelation: the Bovedas (which I have tons of old ones) could be used to help cool, by putting them in the fridge
-I found a styrofoam cooler that I filled with ice and placed in the closet to try to cool down the area (there was too much food in there for me to feel comfortable putting cigars in there

My understanding has always been that modern cigars that aren't house-rolled are generally fine from beetles. Some are frozen ahead of time and others are sprayed? 

So far no signs of beetles, but it's only been a week at that above 72.


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## FiveStar (Jan 7, 2010)

I'm really trying not to worry too much about this whole issue, but I seem to notice lots of threads like this recently which is making me a bit paranoid. As the temps have risen, so have the temps in my house, and thus inside my new glasstop humi. I haven't seen any temps above 75 though, so I'm just crossing my fingers. Only got that high for a day, and has dropped back down to 70 in the few days following. For now, I'm going to monitor my stock, and bank on the fact that I only buy quality made sticks from commercial manufacturers who hopefully go through precautions to kill 99.9% of beetle eggs in their baccy.

My question is, with the temperatures in the tropical/temperate places where this tobacco is grown, rolled, and aged, why don't we see tons of beetles in all our sticks? I receive sticks all the time from CI and Famous that are pretty warm during shipping and haven't had any beetle issues (knock on wood). 

How long must you sustain what temp to optimize beetle hatching? Does RH come into play at all here? I'm not trying to be contrary to anyone's advice here at all, but just trying to learn. I think the freezing advice is something I may have to take into consideration soon, just seems like a ginormous pain in the ass with the number of smokes I've got laying around now.

Don't wanna see my stash turn to dust, and I don't have AC or a Vinotemp, and I can't afford to move into a house with AX, or drop another 2-300 bucks for something to put my 2-300 dollar humidor full of 2-300 dollars worth of cigars in. My fiancee is giving me some serious sideways glances whenever I bring up the subject of temperature, as though to say, "ONE MORE thing you've got to do to keep your cigars PERFECT!"


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

OP, I've spiked my temp before and the single best way I've found to bring it down slowly, but surely, is to place a tea towel on top of the box, then a blue ice pack on top the tea towel and a folded bath towel on top that. This keeps the blue ice from clouding your finish and also slows the cooling a bit. What you DO NOT want to do is cool them too fast or put ANY cooling media inside the humidor. Whomever told you to put them in the fridge needs to be ritually castrated.

Honestly, don't worry about temp until it starts hovering over 75*F for prolonged periods. Beetles prefer 80.



FiveStar said:


> ...why don't we see tons of beetles in all our sticks? I receive sticks all the time from CI and Famous that are pretty warm during shipping and haven't had any beetle issues (knock on wood).
> Does RH come into play at all here?


Landis,

The sticks youre getting on the www are big brands and have had the hell sprayed and fumigated out of them. That's why you see no beetles, even though they've spent days in a brown van.

No, RH plays no role.

People just worry too much about shit.


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

Herf N Turf said:


> OP, I've spiked my temp before and the single best way I've found to bring it down slowly, but surely, is to place a tea towel on top of the box, then a blue ice pack on top the tea towel and a folded bath towel on top that. This keeps the blue ice from clouding your finish and also slows the cooling a bit. What you DO NOT want to do is cool them too fast or put ANY cooling media inside the humidor. Whomever told you to put them in the fridge needs to be ritually castrated.
> 
> Honestly, don't worry about temp until it starts hovering over 75*F for prolonged periods. Beetles prefer 80.


Thanks for the info Don. Fortunately the only ones that were fridged were some cheap Thompson Brown Bag specials. I assume the idea would be to bring these back slowly up to room temp (that damage has been done) any other problems to worry about?

The temperature in the closet had definitely decreased given a touching of the door knob. Going to see how well the ice does overnight. The temperature has decreased inside, but it's unclear what is the exact cause for that.


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## FiveStar (Jan 7, 2010)

thegoldenmackid said:


> The temperature has decreased inside, but it's unclear what is the exact cause for that.


Definitely the decrease in kinetic energy of the molecules within the cigars, air, water vapor, and surrounding humi wood... :biggrin:


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

FiveStar said:


> Definitely the decrease in kinetic energy of the molecules within the cigars, air, water vapor, and surrounding humi wood... :biggrin:


I actually put a Guten Cala in my humidor, seems as if it has mythical powers.


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## FiveStar (Jan 7, 2010)

thegoldenmackid said:


> I actually put a Guten Cala in my humidor, seems as if it has mythical powers.


BWAHAHAH! Actually, I've read that having a Cala in the humi actually vanquishes beetles via osmosis. Seems the intense amount of essential oils derived from the rich latrine fertilized soils of Kazakhstan where the filler, wrapper, and binder of these puros are grown can attributed to the effect. I'd reccomend you just take that Guten Cala out of the cello if you haven't already, and let it do it's thing. Better than any fumigant or freezing/air conditioning you could buy!


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

Herf N Turf said:


> People just worry too much about shit.


Ain't that the truth.


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## Grammaton (Aug 26, 2009)

I'm not going to tell you how warm my humidors get in the summer. I didn't have beetles last summer/fall and my humidor only sees 70 in short stretches of the winter. I don't have central air/heat and the humidity in my home averages 65%. My cigars are fine.

Does anyone know what the high was in Havana or Managua yesterday? Does anyone know what the average relative humidity is for either of those places? [cough, cough, google, cough]

I agree that people worry too much about temp and humidity. Wide fluctuations are no doubt bad for cigars, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter all that much, provided you're in a fairly humid climate.


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## fiddlegrin (Feb 8, 2009)

Hi Charlie,

+1 on the "Let's reduce our stress" approach. :nod:

But just for grins, here is some fodder for the grist what?;

Yes, there are things we can do to help your purty cabinet. We just need to think passive solar cooling. The problem is, they will all be somewhat ugly and what with you leaving in a few weeks... will probably not be things that you want to buy/set up/break down/ store or toss or move, only to repeat when you return.... 



I'm thinking.... bribe the maintainence guy/ crew to fire up the A.C.



Oh heck I dunno... 

A twelve pack and a fiver? Who knows, they might even give you a key to the thermostat :dunno: 
Then you would have a long term solution...

Best wishes,

Dafiddla







.


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## fiddlegrin (Feb 8, 2009)

Originally Posted by *thegoldenmackid*  
_I actually put a Guten Cala in my humidor, seems as if it has mythical powers._



FiveStar said:


> BWAHAHAH! Actually, I've read that having a Cala in the humi actually vanquishes beetles via osmosis. QUOTE]
> 
> Ya! I read that too somewhere:nod:
> 
> ...


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

Just for clarity, I'm not too concerned with at keeping at at 70.00 all the time, it was the concern of the rapid rate of increase. The combination of a cooler temperature, a/c and the ice bucket seem to have put it back down to 70. 

Now to get rid of this cough I have.

Thanks for the suggestions all.


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## gibson_es (Jan 23, 2010)

i live in florida. temps get in the freakin 90's. and when i was working, i didnt keep the a/c on all day, so i could save on elec. didnt know much about cigars (as far as how to keep them anyway) so my cigars, when i had some, would see 90* alot, never had one bug. 

so i agree, peopl worry to much, im not saying to keep it warm, but i wouldnt go doing wacky things, placing odd objects in my humi, just to drop 5* (just dont let it get to 90*, i was ignorant. lol) i will eventually get me a wine cooler, as an added protection, but its not going to kill anything having them at 75* or so for a few weeks.


just my opinion.


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